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By Patrick Lujan

Taguacta sports her Scion uniform for the rugby 7’s team in the Washington D.C. area. (courtesy photo)

After five months of eating sandwiches, Guam rugby player Kayla-Belle Taguacta is glad to be home with a wealth of experience in her bags.

Taguacta lived out a dream with a summer’s worth of living and breathing the sport she loves.

“I loved being out there because it was so constant and I honestly never get tired of playing so I loved it,” the 4-foot-11-and-a-half-inch baller said.

Speaking of 4-feet-11 ½-inches, she was by far one of the shorter players while on the U.S. Women’s National Team 15s and for the Club Scion for 7s based in the Washington, D.C area.

“Size definitely does not matter! For me, being small, I had to work harder than others just to prove that being small doesn’t matter, it’s all about the amount of love you have for the sport and what you put into it.”

Because of her size, Taguacta constantly had to prove herself, which only made her mentally tougher and proved to be her biggest lesson learned.

“The biggest lesson I learned was, ‘don’t ever let someone who doubts you just because your small, affect you and how you play’. I had a lot of people look at me and just doubt me because of how small I was but when I stepped on the field, they were shocked and realized that it doesn’t matter how big or small you are. You know the saying, ‘Never Judge a book by its cover’.”

Even though she was living a dream, she couldn’t wait to come back to reality. “The BIGGEST thing I hated out there was probably being away from the support system (Familia), and the FOOD! All I ate was sandwiches, nothing compared to the awesome food we have here!”

Back home now after tasting the sport at a whole different level, Taguacta would love to change the culture of the sport on Guam after living rugby 24/7. And of course, like any top player in any sport, making it profressionally is the ultimate goal.

“I know me being a rugby player and how much I invested in myself in playing, that I for sure want to go off-island and be playing. I know I want to become a professional which will be hard, but I’m willing to take the chances even if that means leaving home just to pursue it because I know home will always be where it is.”

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